It is often desirable for a book to be opened, and remain open, without having to manually hold the book open. However, many books, in particular, books which have not been used often, have bindings which will not consistently allow the book to be opened, and remain open, at a desired place. Moreover, with large textbooks and the like, it is often required to open a book so that one side of the splayed open books is much thicker than the other side. Consequently, in the design of a book holding device to hold a book open, it is advantageous to provide a device which is capable of holding open a thicker side of the book while not overly affecting the resilient operation of the side of the device corresponding to the thinner side of the book and thereby also holding open the thinner side of the opened book.
There have been a number of prior art patents for book holders. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,246,251 and 5,165,723 both to Evans, describe a book holder with an elongate panel having a U-shaped end at opposite ends of the panel. The elongate panel is placed horizontally on the back of the book with each U-shaped end wrapping around the outside of each side of the book, trapping the pages between the overhang of the U-shaped end and the elongate panel. The elongated panel may be extensibly adjusted for different book widths.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,522 describes a book holder for enclosing and holding books. A spring element comprising a resilient strip is used across the front of the book holder to hold the book holder and the book in a substantially flat, open position. Again, the resilient strip must be adjusted and positioned across the book to hold it in an open position.
Generally, the prior art book holders for holding a book in the open position are relatively complicated in design and operation and require adjustment when attached to a book.
It is desirable to produce an uncomplicated book holder for holding a book in the open position which does not require the reader to make adjustments or to use dexterity in attaching or using the book holder.